Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson: The Guy Who Started Napster ‘Should Be Locked Up’

Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson is still making the rounds to promote his excellent new memoir, What Does This Button Do? During a recent chat with German site Comebackstage, Dickinson speaks about the troubles facing young bands in modern times, adding that the guy who formed Napster “should be locked up.”

Pirating music essentially destroyed the record industry during the turn of the 21st century. Even Metallica struggled to get Hardwired… to Self-Destruct to go platinum, so any other heavy band is essentially screwed when it comes to moving physical albums. When Dickinson was asked to offer some advice to up-and-coming bands, the human air raid siren gave a sagacious response.

“[New bands] have a tough job, actually, because digital downloading … Napster destroyed the concept of music having any value, which is terrible. I think the guy [who started Napster] should be locked up, and maybe he has been, he deserves to be,” Dickinson says. “It was an act of pure, selfish destruction and what he did was he used the enthusiasm of the audience, because the audience is not guilty; they could get all this great music for free. Why wouldn't they do that? They didn't realize that what they were doing was destroying an entire culture.”

The Maiden legend continues, “The great thing with us is we can tour and make money from performing live. Other bands - bands who are coming up doing great music - they don't get that luxury. And it's hard to see where a whole generation of musicians is going to come from now. People who are brilliant musicians don't get paid for doing amazing jobs … I think everybody needs to be educated about the fact that music has real value and musicians have real value; they spent years working on their craft to entertain people."

Check out the full interview with Bruce Dickinson above and click here to grab a copy of What Does This Button Do?